It’s minimalist, it’s self-reflexive...[audiences] may be very receptive to Kiatrosami’s philosophical approach to living and dying.

| Mar 7, 2023

“Taste of Cherry” doesn’t argue for or against the concept of suicide, but it does ask for a compassionate view on the desire to do so.

| Sep 28, 2022

Attains a kind of haunting mysticism, profoundly shifting the audience's perception of reality. It's Kiarostami's finest work, and one of the best films of the 1990s.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 9, 2020

Taste of Cherry is perhaps Kiarostami's most universal projection of grace and suffering, reflecting a world which offers as much beauty as it does woe.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 3, 2020

An assured and studied meditation on the question of whether life is worth living.

| Aug 24, 2020

Neither masterpiece nor misfire.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 16, 2020

It is both drama and allegory, and while it has been met with ardent praise from critics over the years, it doesn't quite work for me either way.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 11, 2020

Its esoteric approach will undoubtedly keep a majority of viewers at arm's length, but, those who enjoy a light-on-details examination of life and death may just find something rich within this award-winning Iranian narrative.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 17, 2020

[An] unexpected break in the narrative deepens the film's ambiguous ending and makes it more powerful.

| Nov 29, 2018

Kiarostami executes a filmic social study that digs deep into the public and private psyche of Iran's male populace via the age-old query that Shakespeare elegantly distilled into, "to be or not to be; that is the question."

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 18, 2016

Taste of Cherry confirmed Kiarostami as the most acclaimed director of Iran's rich film culture...

| Dec 6, 2009

Kiarostami's insistence on putting a frame around his vision keeps the freedom of interpretation--and the responsibility for it--in the hands of the viewer.

| Sep 1, 2009

Taste of Cherry might be Kiarostami's most difficult film.

| Mar 6, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 17, 2005

An enduring meditation on living life. A great film.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 8, 2004

The #1 U.S. release of 1998: 'A sublime and patient film...[Kiarostami] handles his profound material flawlessly.'

| Original Score: A | Jan 10, 2003

That Kiarostami keeps us guessing and caring to the very end as to how Mr. Badii will answer these questions, and that he accomplishes this concern on our parts with a startling spareness, is nothing less than Divine.

Full Review | Jan 7, 2003

Que seja aberto a interpretaes um dos pontos positivos de 'Gosto de Cereja'. Que se feche de maneira to terrvel seu - talvez - nico ponto negativo.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 31, 2002

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 12, 2002

Simplicity often leads to profundity, but A Taste of Cherry (especially the ending) represents lazy cinema that has been overrated by too many.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Feb 3, 2002